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Style Over Substance Wins Again

I purchased this phone for a new flat as I wanted a stylish cordless phone & thats exactly what I got. The features on this are endless, including;

-Multi Choice Ringtones-Answerphone-Games (including a jigsaw of a drink for some reason)-SMS services-Phonebook-Redial shows last 10 called numbers-HD voice

There are more but they are not really worth mentioning as most of the features do not work as described or to the extent they are supposed to.

While in the same room as the base unit for the cordless Philips the sound and connection remain clear and of a high quality but as you move away the sound received begins to wane. If you happen to be in another room when the phone does ring you probably won't hear it as the biggest issue I have had is with the maximum volume. My phone is located in the living room of my flat, it cannot be heard from another room if you happen to have a door closed, so either my doors are soundproofed or the maximum volume is just too quite.

Another problem is the SMS service, after setting this up as described in the manual I still can't get it to work properly. I had the phone replaced before as I was sure it was faulty but have had the same issues with the replacement so believe the phone itself is just a dissapointment.

Overall I wouldn't recommend this phone to anyone unless they wanted a basic home phone that looks very pleasing, the modern style design really is the best thing about the phone. It can be summed up as style over substance as all the features which make this worth the price will not work as expected.

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Dont waste your cash

Philips ID9371B

The Philips ID9371B boasts some impressive features however I hope to save some people from making the mistake that I did in purchasing it. The phone currently retails for around £65 so the price has dropped considerably even taking this in to account I would steer clear of this handset.

The Hype

At just over £100 at the time I purchased it this telephone answering machine wasnt what I would consider cheap. However the contemporary design was just what I was looking for so I parted with my cash. Other than the standard features of a modern phone this phoned claimed to have superior HD sound quality and SMS facility which should set it apart.

The reality

First of all the design in my opinion does live up to expectations this phone looks good even more so with HD televisions etc becoming more popular many people are switching technology in there lounges to black and shiny for a uniform look. This phone would be the perfect addition to that theme.

The phone was fairly easy to set up and program with names and numbers of loved ones.

The ringtones in short were dissapointing. Is it too much to ask for a phone that sounds like a phone instead of playing really dodgy polyphonic tones that I often confuse with whatever is on CITV that day.

The sound was clear but there was no discernable difference between this model and any other that I have owned in the past. I also found the volume to be a little on the quiet side even when on maximum not the best feature for a phone it has to be said.

The dealbreaker

So if so far this phone is just average why the low rating? Heres why the SMS facility when I purchased the phone I picked up primarily for this feature and secondly for it's design. I have used a SMS capable phone before and so was puzzled when I could seem to send SMS text but not receive them.

BT vs Philips Round 1

I called Philips customer service and asked for some advice on setting up the phone I was told that they couldnt help me with the messaging side of things that I should call my telephone provider and obtain the details I needed to establish my service eg I needed BT to give me their message centre numbers. Even after BT provided me with my message centre numbers I still couldnt receive texts instead of coming through as a message if I was sent a message BT bot lady would call me incessantly to tell me that I couldn't receive texts and then proceed to read the message out to me. After several months I gave up calling BT to see what they were going to do to fix the problem.

BT vs Philips Round 2 -BT Wins

I had purchased a new set of handsets as I wanted a twin pack so I could have a phone in my room for convenience. One day by sheer chance a friend sent a text to my house number and lo and behold it came through as a text! Initially I thought wow BT finally fixed the problem on my line but a nagging suspicion told me to plug my Philips phone back in and try receiving a text. It didnt work.

Customer Service

Armed with this new information I contacted Philips and was asked given the runaround once again it was my service. I informed the adviser on the phone this could not be the case as I was using a different brand of handset just fine. I enquired as to whether there was a software flaw on the phone as I had read on Amazon that another woman had a fault with this also. I was told no there wasn't and but that this handset would only work on analogue lines anyone who had broadband etc would not be able to use the SMS feature fully.

So buyer beware by the time I figured out what the problem really was or should I say by the time Philips were honest about it my warranty had long since expired. I have written a complaint to Philips but have been told that I cant prove purchase so they are not willing to deal with my complaint. I would think twice about giving your hard earned money to a company that wont deal with the faults of their products.